"one day"

I have continued my serial reading spree throughout my first week of winter break.  One Day by David Nicholls was not the lovey-dovey cliche that I thought it would be, for which I was actually very grateful.  It was a gripping and frustrating novel about a romance between two best friends from college.  There were so many times where I just wanted to shake the main characters and make them spit out their undying love for the other.  While this was not at all what I expected from the book, I very much enjoyed the saga of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew.  Below are a few quotes from various parts of the book:

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me.  But, it is the same with any life.  Imagine one selected day struck out of it and think how different its course would have been.  Pause, you who read this, and think for a long moment of the long chain iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on that memorable day.  Charles Dickens, Great Expectations"

"Sometimes you are aware when your great moments are happening, and sometimes they rise from the past.  Perhaps it's the same with people.  James Salter, Burning the Days"

" 'Live each day as if it's your last,' that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that?  What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy?  It just wasn't practical.  Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference.  Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you.  Go out there with your passion...and work hard at...something.  Change lives through art maybe.  Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well.  Experience new things.  Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance."